Internal-combustion engine



D. L. WINTERS.

:NTERNAL colwuslow ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 3| 1926.

Patented, Jan. MP9 N22.,

L following is a specification.

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INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGENE.

Mineras'.

Specification of Letters Patent. Paitlllillcdll dialin.. Mill., 1922.

` Application lel September 3, i920. Serial No. 407,594.

To all who-m t malyiconcern:

Be it known that lf, DAvInlL. WINTERS, a

-'citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented.

certain new and useful improvements in linternal-Combustion Engines, of which the rlhis invention relates to internal combustion engines of the four-cycle type, and has for its primary object the incorporation of means in the construction thereof to increase the eiiiciency of their operation under throttled conditions.

Other objects of this invention will be specifically pointed out herein.

it is known that in the operation of fourcycle automobile engines under excessively throttled conditions, or when idling, that two objectionable features become sufficiently noticeable as to impair the efficient operation thereof, as follows:

Underthe circumstances of operation as above mentioned a partial vacuum is created in the engine cylinders during the intake stroke, such vacuum increasing greatly toward the end of such stroke and causing lubricating oil to' pass the pistons after the rings have become slightly worn, and to .thus form carbon deposits upon the spark plugs and valves, fouling the same and preventing proper operation thereof.

Under all conditions the inner walls of the cylinders are at a much lower temperature than that of the charge during combustion,

thus retarding the combustion and expansion chamber where the oil normally comes inA contact with the valves and ,spark plugs.

To furnish to the cylinders at the end of the suction stroke, exhaust gases and heat in inverse proportion to the volume of the explosive mixture therein. 'lihis will eliminate the period of inertia, or lack of power during the initial combustion of an excessively throttled charge, and lproperly condition said charge for the most edective combustion -thereof,thuseliminating the present necessity of preheating such charges before the entrance thereof into the cylinder.

` 'llo position the exhaust gases furnished the cylinders at the end of the suction stroke so that upon the compression stroke the explosive mixture will be advantageously positioned for ignition, and insulated from the .walls of the cylinders bythe presence of such exhaust gases.

'llo minimize the passage of lubricating oil past the piston and into the cylinder, by reducing the duration of the vacuum existing in such cylinders.

With the foregoing and other objects in View this invention consists in the peculiar construction and operation of the various re1- lated parts of a four-cycle internal combustion engine, as hereinafter described and 1 more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a portion ofl this specification, and in which the same reference numerals indicate the same parts wherever they occur,

Fig. l is a perspective view of an automobile engine assembly provided with an embodiment of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. l, partially broken away for clearness of illustration, and viewed in a direction opposite to that of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through a cyl.- inder with the preferred form of this invention incorporated therein;

Fig. i is a horizontal section on line l-4 of Fig. 3 and Fig. 5 is a Fig. 3. A

6 designates as a whole a multiple cylinder four-cycle internal combustion engine of any detail section of a portion of vsuitable type having the usual exhaust manifold 7. Communicating with the interiorof the exhaust manifold 7 by passing through the wall thereof is a pipe 8 having an inlet 9 formed at an angle with relation to the internal walls of the manifold 7, the apex 10 of such angle being located so as to present the greatest area of opening in a direction opposite to the flow of exhaust gases within the manifold 7 as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5, and for a purpose to be hereinafter explained. l

The pipe 8 extends `oreferably over the engine cylinders and downwardly to an auxiliary manifold 1i, which is in communicai spectively adjacent cylinder wall 14 opening ,thereinto at a point 15, which opening is cleared by the piston 16 at its lowermost point on its downward stroke, The piston '16 is provided on the `side adjacent the opening '15 witlia baffle 17 which extends above and partially around the face of the piston ata relatively decreasing height thereto, :the highest point 18 of such bahle 17 being directly opposite the opening 15.

'llhe usual intake and exhaust valves 4are indicated at 19 and 20 respectively and are in communication with the intake and ex-. haust manifolds 21 and 7.

yln operation the construction just described unctions as follows, the operation of onecylinder being described in detail, it being understood that all cylinders of the engine operate identically therewith in their ring sequence. r

Upon the tiring of a charge within the cylinder, the piston'16 commences its descending stroke and continues thereupon until it has reached its downward limit when the opening 15 is cleared, at the same timethe exhaust valve 2O has started to function in the usual manner to permit the exhaust gases to pass from the cylinder into the exhaust manifold 7. When the piston 16 has cleared the opening 15 the lower portion of the ex haust gaseswithin the cylinder, due to the pressure thereof is-exhausted through the opening 15 into its corresponding branch pipe 12 and into the auxiliary-manifold 11, the manifold 11 being of such sizev as to permit the retention therein of a considerable' proportion of the exhaust gases, and to prevent the exhaust gases passing directly from one cylinder into another, the remainder of such exhaust gases escaping through the opening l passing from the auxiliarymanifold 11 into the pipe 8 and to the exhaust manifold 7.

0n the 'following upward movement of the piston 16 on 'the normal exhaust stroke, the cylinder is cleared in the usual manner. rllhe suction stroke of the piston 16-is then made in the usual manner until the piston has again cleared the opening when, due to the partial vacuum existing in the cylinder,

that portion of the exhaust gases retained in pressed exhaust gases side of the cylinder adjacent the -opening 15, y

thus forming an insulating and positioning means for the explosive mixture. i

Upon compression this insulating layer will confine the .explosive mixture in the most advantageous position for ignition and at the l same time eii'ectively insulate such explosive mixture fromcontact with the cylinder wall,

and prevent the detrimental effect upon the combustion and expansion of such mixture,

due to contact with such wall.

lt will be seen that when idling or operating under light load the sizeof thel charge andthe richness thereof can be greatly reduced, since uponl ignition the pressure due to expansion is at once communicated tothe piston through the medium of the vcomsurrounding the charge. Also, these compressed exhaust gases will"impart a driving force to the piston throughout the, entire stroke instead of only a part thereof, and greatly reduce the vibration of large four cylinder engnes.

Obviously, by thus insulatingthe explosive mixture from the walls of the cylinders, a great saving in hea is eiiected and utilized in propelling the vehicle, while the necessity for cooling the cylinders will be greatly decreased, and the e'liciency of the lubricating oil reatly increased.

onsiderable variation of the details as described herein may beresorted to without departure from the spirit of the invention which is vto be construed in thelight of the vfollowing claims.

What l claim is: v 1. The methody of operating a four-cycle internal combustion engine to maintain a uniform compression therein, which consists in discharging a portion of the exhaust gases into an exhaust conduit of said engine subject to atmospheric pressure, admitting an explosive mixture to a cylinder of said engine, and then adding a portion of the ex haust gases under atmospheric pressure to said explosive mixture beforey ignition `of such mixture. j

2. ln the operation or' a four-cycle internal combustion engine, the method which consists in iirst admitting the explosive mixlioo ture thereto, and then admitting a portionl of the exhaust gases in such manner as to substantially surround the explosive mixture whereby to insulate the said explosive mix- -turev from the cylinder walls of said engine.

e. ln a tour-cycle internal combustion engine, the combination with a cylinder there# of, of means to maintain a uniform compression therein comprising means for discharging a portion or" the exhaust gases into an exhaust conduit oi said engine open to atmospheric pressure, means for feeding an explosive mixture to a cylinder of said engine, and

means tor adding a portion ci' the exhaust Y,

under atmospheric pressure to said .ex-

plosive means in the cylinder before the ignition of such mixture.

4. The method of operating a vfour-cycle internal combustion engine to maintain a uniform compression therein, Which consists in discharging a portion of the exhaust gases into an exhaust conduit of said engine open to atmospheric pressure, admitting an explosive mixture to a cylinder of said engine, and then adding a portion of the exhaust gases under atmospheric pressure to Said explosive mixture before ignition of such mixture.

5. ln a four-cycle internal combustion engine, the combination with the cylinder thereof, of means for supplying said cylinder with an explosive mixture, means for supplying said cylinder with exhaust gases, a piston in said cylinder, and means carried by said lpiston tovposition the said exhaust gases in the cylinder against the Walls thereo'f.

' In testimony'whereof I aix my signature hereto.

DAVID L. WNTERS. 

